I installed Ubuntu 15.04 on my Lenovo E49 for dual boot with my Windows 7. After that I couldn't start Windows and was getting the error that it couldn't startup because of some file being corrupted. So I tried fixing it with Windows 7 installation disk but it failed. Thats when I wiped the whole hard disk (backed-up all the drives) because it had GPT partition and installed Windows 8.1. Now I cannot enter BIOS even after pressing the F1 key as well as Enter. I even tried removing the CMOS battery to reset the BIOS but no use.

What may be the problem here? Is it because I have completely wiped all partitions? How do I fix it?

4 Answers
4

By default, a Windows 8/8.1 shutdown is not a real shutdown. Instead, it is hybrid shutdown where contents of memory are saved to disk. This allows for a faster startup. However, turning on the PC after a hybrid shutdown does not allow for pressing F1 or F12 during startup.

Solution:

There are several ways to enter Setup Utility (F1) or the Boot Menu (F12) on a Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 PC as explained below:

Press and hold the Shift key while selecting the Shutdown option in Windows 8. This will make the PC perform a full shutdown instead of a hybrid shutdown. Then F1 or F12 can be pressed successfully during startup.

Select Restart instead of Shutdown. Then F1 or F12 can be pressed successfully during startup.

Disable the fast startup option in Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> Choose what the power buttons do.

It is also possible to access these features from within Windows 8/8.1.

Given that you're dual-booting though, you probably want to disable the hybrid shutdown anyway. I've had to do the same on the Win10 test laptop I dual-boot with. As a bonus, I can now see the contents of Win10's OS partition from Linux too.

EDIT: Playing with any other setting in BIOS should be much easier after Win isn't doing the hybrid thing.

i have tried doing the complete shutdown but the problem persists. also i have noticed "BIOS shadowed" coming up on the splash screen.
– Sharang Sinai AmonkarJun 30 '15 at 15:47

'bios shadowed/'video shadowed' seem to be normal for some motherboards (seems its loading the bios into ram and running from there.
– s1ns3ntJul 2 '15 at 0:36

[apparently Enter when typing a comment is not a new line...] Thanks to Lenovo's asinine naming conventions, I'm not sure which of these categories you fall under as far as buttons to use to get into bios, but might be worth it to try some of the combinations here: support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht036045 Only other thing I can think of to try is to "update" the bios (with the same version or later) from Win, if you can still get there, idea being to reset it to defaults.
– s1ns3ntJul 2 '15 at 0:53